JODY CRADDOCK dished out his Christmas presents at Highbury yesterday as Wolves suffered a 3-0 hiding at the hands of Arsenal.

The Wolves defender scored an own goal for the Gunners opener, gave the ball away for the second and fluffed a golden chance to pull one back and give the rock-bottom visitors hope of taking something from this game.

In truth, that was never on the cards in a match in which the scoreline hugely flattered Dave Jones' side from the Midlands.

Arsenal could and should have scored more, as they did in the 5-1 Carling Cup victory when these opponents met here earlier this month.

But yesterday's one-sided contest still demonstrated the huge gulf between the team in the thick of the title battle and a side that won last season's Division One play-off final.

Unfortunately for Jones' side, the Football League is exactly where they are heading again barring a dramatic New Year recovery.

Arsene Wenger's men are concentrating on matters at the opposite end of the standings, a fact demonstrated by the way much of this game resembled a training-ground work-out for Thierry Henry and his team-mates.

Craddock's afternoon to forget began in the 14th minute, when Patrick Vieira deflected Henry's corner against him and the ball looped into the net.

The Wolves man dallied in possession six minutes later, allowing Vieira to rob him and square for the top-flight's top-scorer Henry to smack home the first goal of his brace.

And error-prone Craddock's misery was complete when he sliced wide from a great shooting position.

Arsenal went close on countless further occasions - Henry hit the post, Dennis Bergkamp frequently tormented the Wolves defence and even Sol Campbell had a couple of shots - but did not add to their tally until the 89th minute.

Henry completed Wolves' misery by taking substitute Edu's pass in his stride, skipping round his former team-mate Oleg Luzhny and rifling into the far corner of the Wolves net.